VIENNA, Nov 26 (Reuters) - OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and
fellow member the United Arab Emirates signalled on Wednesday
they were unlikely to push for a major change in oil output at
the group's meeting this week to prop up prices that have
collapsed by a third since June.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said he expected the oil
market "to stabilise itself eventually" after talks with
non-OPEC member Russia on Tuesday yielded no pledge from Moscow
to tackle a global oil glut jointly.

OPEC's meeting on Thursday will be one of its most crucial
in recent years, with oil having tumbled to below $79 per barrel
due to the U.S. shale boom and slower economic growth in China
and Europe.

"This is not a crisis that requires us to panic ... we have
seen (prices) way lower," UAE Oil Minister Suhail bin Mohammed
al-Mazroui told Reuters. "I think everyone needs to play a role
in balancing the market, not OPEC unilaterally".

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said some OPEC members,
although not Iran itself, were now gearing up for a battle over
market share and also insisted that non-OPEC producers needed to
participate in any OPEC-led output cut.

"Some OPEC members believe that this is the time where we
need to defend market share ... All the experts in the market
believe we have oversupply in the market and next year we will
have more oversupply," he added.

Cutting output unilaterally would effectively mean for OPEC,
which accounts for a third of global oil output, a further loss
of market share to North American shale oil producers.

If OPEC decided against cutting and rolled over existing
output levels on Thursday, that would effectively mean a price
war that the Saudis and other Gulf producers could withstand due
to their large foreign-exchange reserves. Other members, such as
Venezuela, would find it much more difficult.

Among the 12 members of the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries, Venezuela and Iraq have called for output
cuts. Naimi has not commented on what the group should do.

"The onslaught of North American shale oil has drastically
undermined OPEC's position and reduced its market share," said
Dr. Gary Ross, chief executive of PIRA Energy Group. Brent crude
was trading flat at 1320 GMT, above $78 per barrel.

RUSSIA SCEPTICAL ON OPEC CUT

Russia, which produces 10.5 million barrels per day (bpd) or
11 percent of global oil, came to Tuesday's meeting amid hints
it might agree to cut output as it suffers from oil's price fall
and Western sanctions over Ukraine.

But as that meeting with Naimi and officials from Venezuela
and non-OPEC member Mexico ended, Russia's most influential oil
official, state firm Rosneft's head Igor Sechin,
emerged with a surprise message - Russia will not reduce output
even if oil falls to $60 per barrel.

Sechin added that he expected low oil prices to do more
damage to producing nations with higher costs, in a clear
reference to the U.S. shale boom.

Many at OPEC were taken by surprise by Sechin's suggestion
that Russia - in desperate need of oil prices above $100 per
barrel to balance its budget - was ready for a price war.

"Gulf states are less bothered about a price drop compared
to other OPEC members," an OPEC source close to Gulf thinking
said.

On Wednesday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said
the country's energy companies would produce around the same
amount of oil next year as they did in 2014.

He told reporters in Moscow he was sceptical that OPEC would
decide on Thursday to cut output quotas.

OPEC's own publications have shown in recent months that
global supply will exceed demand by more than 1 million bpd in
the first half of next year.

While the statistics speak in favour of a cut, the build-up
to the OPEC meeting has seen one of the most heated debates in
years about the next policy step for the group.

An OPEC delegate from one of the smaller oil producers
suggested on Wednesday that the group's meeting could be
prolonged.

"They must agree, even if they have to stay here for two
days. It is a matter of death or survival for budgets," the
delegate said.

"It might take a bit longer than the ordinary meetings."
(Additional reporting by Rania el-Gamal and David Sheppard;
Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson)